ART THERAPY IN SEARCH FOR LIFE MEANINGS

Abstract

An art therapy exercise program is posed in the article. The author has proven the effectiveness of the art therapy program for a person's search for life meanings. Study participants are 59 women aged 18 to 20 years (M=18,63; Std.=0,72), who noticed various manifestations of the state of meaning loss (apathy, emptiness, boredom, etc.). Standardized psychological diagnostic techniques were used in the research. The first psychological diagnostic technique was the test of life-meaning orientations by D. Crumbot and L. Makholik in adaptation of D.A. Leont’ev). This test allows to identify the life guidelines of a person. The second psychological diagnostic technique was the methodology "Scale of psychological well-being" by K. Riff in adaptation of L.V. Zhukovskaya, E.G. Troshikhina. This methodology was used to measure the level of psychological well-being, which was a subjective indicator of the effectiveness of the art therapy program. The empirical base of the study was made up of two groups of respondents. The first group was experimental (E-group, N=25; M=18,50; Std.=0,60), the second one was a control group (С-group, N=22; M=18,76; Std.=0,72). The author used descriptive statistics, difference reliability analysis method (Mann-Whitney U test, Wilcoxon test), correlation analysis by the r-Spearman method. The effectiveness of the developed art therapy program was confirmed for a person's search for life meanings by the results of an empirical research. The indicators of life-meaning orientations and psychological well-being increased, the strength and intensity between both indicators increased because of the strengthening of the creative activity of the person, which contributed to the deep awareness of the participants in the process of their life experience, significant connections with other people and the world in general, fixation on creative images and immersion in personal meanings that filled these creative images.